Awakening

by Rebel Miller

  I know. I’m taking care of it.

  Then a moment later, he sent:

  Don’t worry.

  I frowned and looked up at Sela, whose face held a worried expression.

  “Tai says not to worry,” I murmured. Like I would do anything but.

  When my relatives had disappeared, everyone assumed that they were lying low until word came through about their status. We allowed everyone to think they had decided to visit family in another town as they waited for news. But Sela knew me well. She hadn’t pressed for answers, but she clearly had her suspicions.

  “The story doesn’t seem to be getting much attention,” Sela said, showing me the tablet again. She had entered a search to locate similar articles. There were several other reports on the meeting, but, thankfully, most didn’t mention me. Only three seemed to note my involvement.

  We sat quietly for a few moments. Sela skimmed through the three articles while I worried about the difficulty this could cause for my family. Maybe Tai was overreacting. Perhaps we were worried for nothing. Who really cared about what a subordinate did or thought?

  I glanced down at my comm when another message arrived.

  It’s done.

  I blinked.

  What’s done?

  “That’s odd,” Sela said. Her eyebrows drew together as she tapped at her tablet.

  “What?”

  She tilted the screen toward me. The initial article had been modified. Reference to my participation was limited to vague information, my name and photo no longer included.

  No more interviews.

  I sat stunned. Sela swiped through to the other three articles. They too had been changed.

  “All Above,” Sela said, her gray eyes wide as she looked up from the device. “And you think he doesn’t want you?”

  I stood up and started to pace, hands on my hips. “He’s just doing his job.”

  Sela crossed her arms. “His job is to wipe all record of you from media accounts that could draw attention to you and your family?”

  I stared at her, digesting the truth behind her words, then threw my hands in the air. “This is the man who believes so much in right and wrong, black and white. And then he goes and does this! He’s so blasted confusing!”

  Sela wisely kept silent.

  “I don’t know why I’m letting him get to me this way,” I said.

  “Yes, I wonder why?” she murmured, her eyes sparkling.

  I gave her a wary look as I strode passed her.

  “Powerful men — that’s your catnip,” she said with a thoughtful expression, almost as if to herself.

  “Sela,” I sighed and stopped pacing. “Stop it.”

  She leaned back to study me as she rubbed her belly. “Correction. Intense and powerful men.”

  “Please. Stop analyzing me.”

  Sela grinned, smug in her confidence.

  * * *

  As always, work was my refuge. As soon as I stepped into the Judiciary to start my day, I was met by its boundless energy, an energy that never failed to lift my spirits. Our office was still buzzing a week after the world ministers’ approval of our proposal. I knew that what we had accomplished was truly monumental when even Theo smiled at me upon my arrival.

  Walking into the main area, I waved hello to a fellow subordinate, Ana Director, a shy, dark-haired woman I had recently helped with a project, and turned the corner. As I drew closer to my cubicle, I slowed down, somewhat disoriented by what— or rather, who — I saw.

  “Asher,” I said, “can I help you with something?”

  “Oh, hey, Kira,” he said, looking up at me with a gentle smile.

  Asher Analyst was a recent recruit to the Office of Exploration. He was sharp, funny and attractive and had a style that was all his own. That day, he’d gone old world, in a pair of wire-rimmed glasses. I had no idea how he was able to find these pieces. No one had needed to wear glasses for more than four hundred years. Any conditions of the eye were treated either at birth or upon diagnosis. I figured he must have been a regular visitor at retro or replication clothing stores. Asher was a man I could become good friends with, and I enjoyed working with him, but he shouldn’t have been sitting at my desk.

  I swept an upturned hand across the expanse of the cubicle. “Am I missing something?”

  “Metallurgist, there you are.”

  I looked quickly behind me to find Gabriel striding over. As usual, he was in stunning form — blue hair, dark blue eyeliner and cobalt blue nails.

  “Good morning, Gabriel.” I turned to face him as he reached me.

  “I’m glad you’re in early. I sent a message to the team but wanted to congratulate you face to face.” Gabriel gave me a blinding smile.

  I smiled reflexively in response then almost as quickly frowned in puzzlement.

  Gabriel stepped forward to wrap an arm around my shoulder. With a tug, he began to walk me across the room, holding me firmly by his side. He gesticulated widely as he spoke.

  “You’ve done such an incredible job on the proposal that you’ve caught the attention of a number of tremendously important people.”

  My heart palpitated. “I have?”

  “Indeed.”

  Halls, did Tai miss a report on the newsfeed? Was the Realm investigating me, looking into my family?

  We turned right and I craned my neck to look behind me. I caught Asher watching us as we rounded the corner. Gabriel carried on.

  “Realm Council will be reviewing our proposal next week. As you know, Council chooses to hold their meetings in various worlds, decided by lottery.” We stopped in front of an opaque glass-paneled door. “For this very important meeting, they’ve chosen to forego that process and have selected Prospect Eight. It’s testament to how impressed the Council is with the work we’ve done.”

  I released a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding and turned to him. “That’s wonderful, Gabriel. I’m so excited for you.”

  He tutted. “For us, Metallurgist.” He engaged the door and walked into a sparsely decorated office that lacked a desirable amount of light and warmth. There was only one small window, on the right.

  In the center of the room, Gabriel spun on a heel to face me. “So what do you think?” He held his arms out wide.

  I stepped inside, taking in a desk and two chairs made of a dull metallic material. “About what?”

  “Your new office.”

  I drew up. “Pardon me?”

  “Come now! I can’t have the subordinate whose been invited by our sovereign herself to attend the Realm Council’s meeting slumming it.”

  “What?” I yelped.

  “That’s right — you’ve been invited by the Corona to attend the meeting with me and, of course, the chancellor. A sovereign of the Realm has only ever invited a subordinate to a meeting a handful of times in the history of our system.” Gabriel sauntered over and cupped my shoulders, looking me directly in the eyes. I cringed at the strength of his grip. “Congratulations, Metallurgist. You keep on surprising me every day.”

  I ducked my head, shaking it in shock. “Wow. This is … incredible.”

  “That it is.”

  I raised my eyes at his tone but found him smiling with his normal exuberance.

  “I … um, thank you, Gabriel.”

  He released my shoulders with a pat, went to the desk and perched on its edge, adjusting his jacket as he did so. “I’ve already arranged for your work station to be set up.” He tapped on the monitor beside him. “It’s ready to go when you are.”

  I nodded and walked over to the desk. I ran my fingers across its smooth top. The desk was cold to touch and the chair looked uncomfortable. The furniture was stainless steel.

  His eyes narrowed. “You don’t look very pleased.”

  “I am. Very pleased, that is. It’s just …” Gabriel raised his eyebrows. “I really enjoy working alongside my colleagues,” I said. “We were just getting into a rhythm. I was earning their trust and I felt li
ke part of the team.”

  “Ah, so you’re worried you’ll be alienated.”

  I grimaced. “Well, not intentionally …”

  Gabriel stood and strode toward the door. “Metallurgist, there is no way you could go unnoticed or become forgotten. You’ve become quite the influencer here.” He paused at the threshold to peer at me. “Come by my office when you get settled. I have a few files I’ll need you to update,” he said, and rapped his knuckles smartly against the doorjamb as he quit the room.

  I pursed my lips, unsure of what to make of everything. The Corona invited me, Kira Metallurgist, to a Council meeting! I knew that it was simply to watch the proceedings, but it was an honor all the same. Just to have a chance to witness the process in action at its highest level was an opportunity of a lifetime. On top of all that, I now had a designated workspace. An office was quite the coup at the Judiciary, especially for someone at my junior level. I didn’t deserve it and, truth be told, I didn’t want it.

  I was twirling slowly in the center of the room, trying to find some sense of rightness in the space, when I heard a movement by the door.

  “I thought you knew about the whole relocation thing,” Asher said from just beyond the threshold. “Sorry about that.”

  I smiled with a sigh. “It’s not your fault.”

  Asher shrugged and leaned against the doorjamb, pushing his hands into the pockets of his slim-legged black pants. “Gabriel sent us a memo yesterday afternoon.”

  I nodded. “I know. He said he wanted to tell me in person.”

  “Ya, I realize that now.” He smiled then, taking in my somber expression, grimaced. “Are congratulations or condolences in order?”

  I laughed, but the sound of it soon waned into a groan. “It’s great, it’s just …”

  “What?”

  I walked to him, looking around his shoulder into the main work area with a frown. “I’m so far away from you all now. I can’t even see anyone from here.” I glanced up.

  He swallowed and nodded tightly. “Ya. It’s been really nice working by you — beside you — I mean, with you,” he sputtered, running a hand over the dark skin of his bald head.

  I smiled and walked back into the room, dropping my bag onto a chair as I went.

  He sighed and followed me in. “We heard you were invited to the Realm Council meeting. That’s great, Kira!”

  “Thanks.” I sat in the chair behind the desk and immediately flinched at the cold, hard metal beneath me. “We all put a lot of work into that project.”

  “Not as much as you,” he said with a grin. “So just take the compliment.”

  I shrugged and started up my monitor as I investigated the desk’s storage.

  “So, um, a few of us are going out to a new bar after work at the end of the week. Now that the pressure’s off with the proposal, I was thinking you might want to come along.”

  I slammed a drawer shut. “Oh, okay. Where’s everyone going?”

  “Drunk Dominion.” I laughed. “I hear it’s pretty cool,” he added, grinning.

  Gannon came to mind, and then for some irrational reason, my mind flitted over to Tai. My smile left my lips.

  “I mean, you probably have things to do,” he said, pushing his glasses higher up the bridge of his nose.

  Absently, my mind sifted through the most recent messages I had received. Tai was still smarting from our argument in the garden. His frequent messages were terse and limited to newsfeed coverage and the status of citizens. Gannon, meanwhile, had been unusually quiet. He messaged only when I did. I would have thought he was losing interest except that at the end of every day, he demanded we speak via monitor. And when we did, Gannon was his usual arrogantly charming self, making me feel, with a shameful amount of relief, that all was as it should be between us.

  I had been spending too much of my free time trying to figure out what both Tai and Gannon were thinking. A respite was exactly what I needed.

  “Actually, Asher,” I said, “I’d really like that. It’ll be a great way to catch up with everyone.”

  He smiled. “Solid.” Asher even spoke in his own way.

  I chuckled. “Can I invite someone?”

  His smile slipped a bit. “Ya. Okay. Sure. You probably have someone like a boyfriend or girlfriend, right?” He shoved his hands into his back pockets, his head bobbing up and down as if I had already responded to his question.

  I snorted at the complexity of trying to come up with an answer. “Uh, to be honest, I want to invite my friend Nara and her guys. She works close by.”

  Asher’s smile lit up again. He stared at me with an expression that was friendlier than it should have been.

  Oh no.

  He blinked. “Okay, sounds good.” Before turning to head for the door, he said, “I’ll let you get to work then.”

  As he disengaged the door behind him, I wondered why I couldn’t be attracted to someone like Asher Analyst then imagined Sela shaking her head at me with a knowing smile.

  * * *

  When I arrived at home at the end of the day, I was grateful to learn by way of message that Rhoan was out with someone named Beth and I had the apartment to myself overnight. I was looking forward to a taking a hot shower, ordering something delicious and spending some time in front of some mindless entertainment when I heard my monitor’s merry jingle. I glanced at my comm on the way to my bedroom and frowned. It was too early for my call with Gannon.

  I threw my bag on the bed and voice activated the monitor while I removed my jacket. As I walked toward the closet, I saw who made the connection. I stopped abruptly and sat on the edge of my bed.

  I smiled into the screen while a warm feeling wrapped itself around me. “Hi,” I said.

  “There’s my favorite girl,” Uncle Khelan responded with a smile of his own. He was seated in a familiar space. Uncle was such a frequent visitor to our family home that he had his own room. It was a good thing, because he had been spending more and more time there since Argon’s expulsion. “How are you?”

  I made a face, hiding it as I leaned over to take off my boots. “I’m as good as can be.”

  “You still enjoying the job?”

  “Yes, I am. It’s been a whirlwind.” I lifted my gaze when I suddenly had an awful thought. “Is everyone okay?”

  “Yes, yes, everyone is fine,” he said quickly. “Your Da continues to work hard and your Ma keeps us in line. I wanted to tell you they’ve cancelled this year’s festival picnic. Gale season has made a quicker than usual arrival and, of course, with all that’s going on … local leadership just didn’t think it was appropriate.”

  I nodded, not surprised. “That makes sense.”

  He ran a hand through his wheat-colored hair. “I heard about the proposal. Congratulations.”

  I beamed with pride. “I’ve been invited to the Realm Council meeting too.”

  He gave me a suitably impressed look. “I can’t remember the last time a subordinate was invited to Realm Council,” he murmured.

  “Gabriel says that the Corona is pleased by our work, so I guess I get to enjoy the fruits of our labor.”

  “As you should.” His green eyes twinkled before dimming a bit. “Of course, there’s a chance she won’t be in favor of your proposal.”

  I pursed my lips. “The chancellor thinks that we should be okay since we have the ministers’ approval.”

  “Well, he should know better than me, I suppose,” he said, unconvincingly. Since I’d told Uncle about the project I was working on, he had been encouraging, but hesitantly so. He couldn’t imagine that the Corona or anyone on Realm Council would want to engage the very people they were castigating by approving a proposal recommending subordinate inclusion.

  “He gave me an office,” I said.

  “Who?”

  “Gabriel.”

  Uncle drew back. “He did?”

  I snorted at his surprise. “He says I shouldn’t be slumming it … or something like that.” I tugged o
ff my boots then glanced up when he didn’t say anything. He was deep in thought.

  “What is it?” I asked.

  His expression smoothed out. “Nothing. I guess I don’t know how things work at that level anymore.”

  “That level?” I repeated with a laugh. “I’m as junior as they come!”

  “Hmm,” he said. “Gabriel — he’s treating you well, then?”

  “Yes, he’s been great.” If at times a bit aloof. “He’s giving me so many opportunities! I really like working with him.”

  “Good, good.” He eyed me as if judging my sincerity. “Kira, you know, there are only two people in the Realm that I would give my life up for. You are one of them.”

  I started. This was a sudden and profound declaration.

  “You’ll tell me if there’s anything you need or bothering you, do you understand?” he added.

  “Yes, of course.”

  “I may not be very high up on the ladder at the Judiciary any longer, but I will help you any way I can. I’ve maintained good relationships with a few contacts. I can reach out to them if need be.”

  Silently, I considered his words. I didn’t know where this was coming from. I felt like I was missing something. I was about to follow up when the audio from the monitor announced the arrival of a guest. I frowned — I wasn’t expecting anyone.

  “Is everything all right?” Uncle asked.

  “Uh, yes,” I mumbled, toggling the screen to the apartment dashboard. Tai had entered the building code and was on his way up to my apartment floor. I toggled back to my uncle. “I have a guest coming up.”

  “Okay, I’ll let you go then. I just wanted to check in and let you know about the festival.”

  “Please tell Ma and Da hello for me,” I murmured.

  “Will do,” he said. “You remember what I said, okay?”

  I nodded, distracted by my racing heart.

  What in the Realm is Tai doing here?

  As soon as I’d said goodbye and signed off, there was a buzz at the front door.

  I made quick work of rearranging my hair and righting my skirt, loathing myself the entire time for feeling the need to do so. Then I hurried to the door, paused to take a breath and engaged it open. As usual, Tai looked his incredible self — strong, commanding and undeniably sexy.